We heard it all week: this was the time Metro will lose to its newly-minted neighbors. Last year's dominance was a thing of the past; NYCFC was on a nice streak, sniffing the top of the table, while Metro started the season in disastrous fashion. Heck, the blue team even rested its stars on Wednesday (at least, the stars where rest is coach's choice and not default behavior), while Metro ran its players into the ground. And speaking of coaches, NYCFC's played and studied the game at the highest level and was bound to run circles around American neophytes. This was going to be it...

It wasn't.

In a dominating performance never seen before in the 21-year-history of this franchise, Metro destroyed NYCFC 7:0. It was the first time ever that Metro scored seven in a game, the highest margin of victory in team history, and tied for the largest margin in league history. And it wasn't even that close.

The dust hadn't even settled on lineup changes (Connor Lade switched over to left back as Kemar Lawrence sat, and Sal Zizzo stepped in), when Metro gained the lead. Less than three minutes in, Dax McCarty rose high in the air, put his head on a Sacha Kljestan corner, and opened the scoring. This will become a theme.

In the 42nd minute, magnificent work by Mike Grella on the left flank led to the game's second goal. Grella danced through NYCFC defenders, leaving one on the ground and the other in the dust, and sent the ball to the front of the net, where Bradley Wright-Phillips nodded it in from close range. Then, in injury time, a Grella cross was headed up, and started to fall at BWP. The Englishman launched a stupefying bicycle kick to make it 3:0.

But Metro was not done; not even close. Six minutes into the second half, on a carbon-copy of the opener, McCarty made it 4:0. It was the first time Dax scored two in one MLS game. Note to the blue team: you play on a small field. Your brilliant manager needs to teach you to defend corners. On second thought, keep it as is...

In the 56th minute, it was Wright-Phillips' turn to be provider, as he pounced on a loose ball in the box, fought off a defender, and passed back to Alex Muyl. The rookie blasted in his first career goal. Then, in the 83rd, from a free kick close to the endline, Gonzalo Veron headed in the game's sixth. Note to the blue team: that free kick was very close to a being a corner...

The exclamation point came one minute from time... of a corner. Fun, huh? This time, the ball trickled into the area, and laded at the feet of Gideon Baah, parked in front of the goalkeeper. The Ghanaian, finally back from injury, pounced and put it in. Amazingly, all three Metro subs scored today.

So, this was wonderful, amazing, magnificent. But, at the end, it only counts for three points, and the hole Metro dug earlier this year runs deep...